Business and Pleasure
by mystiri1
Summary: Despite the scandal, Sephiroth and Rufus's relationship was far from over. For the 2010 Harlequin Relationships Round at no true pair. Yaoi, Sephiroth/Rufus


Warning: _This story contains male/male relationships. If you're offended by this, go read something else._

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><p>The tabloids, of course, had a field day. A few articles were even printed in the more reputable papers before editorial control was asserted; while they were quite happy to write about the importance of 'freedom of the press', they were less willing to deliberately upset the biggest financial and military power on the planet.<p>

The articles varied in tone. Some of them were shocked and appalled – Rufus Shinra taking up with another man, oh, the immorality of it! - but those amused him more than anything. He was Rufus Shinra, and he'd sleep with whoever he damned well felt like sleeping with. Morality had never concerned him all that much; he took the view that morals were something for other people, and sex was a stupid thing to get hung up on.

There had been one or two articles in the ladies' lifestyle magazines speculating over his 'painful decision to come out' and the anguish of maintaining a pretence all this time, with a retrospective on the various women he'd dated to keep his cover. That had earned him some soulful, sympathetic looks from certain sectors of the secretarial pool. Rufus had only found out about those when he walked in to find Reno reading whole paragraphs aloud, then hooting with laughter like some demented wild beast. Even Rude was smiling at some parts, and Tseng, although usually impossible to read, was clearly amused. Cissnei had quickly confiscated it, with a number of threats that led Rufus to believe it was her magazine, but she'd been more than willing to lend it to him when he asked. Rufus was somewhat more dignified than Reno in his approach to it, but the idea that all those women had been nothing more than beards was ridiculous. Both teenage hormones and a large dose of cynicism meant that he wasn't going to turn down sex when the silly twits offered it up on a silver platter in return for a few crumbs of his attention.

Of course, now he had something better than silicone-enhanced socialites to keep him occupied.

The identity of his lover was as much a scandal as his gender, but even the most vicious gossip-rags were cautious in what they printed about Sephiroth. Rufus was a little surprised about that; usually there was nothing the media enjoyed more than the public downfall of someone considered a hero. Perhaps it was the fact that so many people considered him a hero that restrained them, or it might have been fear. He was, after all, the Demon of Wutai, ShinRa's Silver General, the most dangerous man on the planet. Rufus also privately thought it was because everyone, at some point or another, had probably had a few prurient thoughts about someone who looked like that. Envy was a bitter pill to swallow.

Rufus, being a teenager, had plenty of prurient thoughts involving the General. Not just thoughts, either: many of them had been incredibly explicit, full-colour masturbatory fantasies. It was simply that he'd had the balls to act on them once he realised just where Sephiroth's... interests lay.

There had actually been three articles that had obliquely accused Sephiroth of cradle-robbing, playing up the age difference and the fact that Rufus hadn't quite reached his eighteenth birthday, but even the tabloids could apparently see the hypocrisy in that. They'd gleefully recounted Rufus' many and varied relationships with older women, after all. The age gap between Rufus and Sephiroth was nowhere near as big as it had been in some of those cases.

The real difference was in his father's reaction to such articles. When the tabloids – and even the more reputable papers – published stories about Rufus dating much older women, his father showed a strange sense of glee, taking some kind of pride in Rufus' sexual relationships as if it somehow reflected on his own prowess. The only thing it reflected on, in Rufus' mind, was his wealth; Adolphus Shinra could afford to pay for as many mistresses as he wanted and still keep two or three big-breasted and 'friendly' secretaries on the side. Rufus had no illusions as to what they found most attractive about his father, and likely what many of his own former lovers had found just as attractive about him.

Rufus becoming involved with another man – even one like Sephiroth – hadn't resulted in any sort of pride. His father had, predictably, hit the roof. This was the very reason Rufus had kept any previous male lovers out of the spotlight. He wasn't naïve enough to think they would have survived the experience, and he hadn't felt any of them worth the effort of defying his father.

It was the memory of that meeting made him smile now, as his eyes traced over the smooth lines of his lover's back. His father had been all but frothing at the mouth, demanding that Rufus immediately make a statement denying all the scurrilous rumours going around; they would, of course, sue the reporters responsible. Rufus refused, pointing to the photographic evidence of their liaison, and stating that he refused to make a lying ass of himself, but if his father wished to do so, Rufus wouldn't dream of stopping him. That had been good for turning the President's already florid complexion several shades darker. For a few moments, Rufus had honestly thought the old man was going to die of an apoplexy right there and then, only to be sadly disappointed when he lived through it.

His father had then tried ordering Sephiroth to break the relationship. Sephiroth had simply quoted ShinRa's own Military Code of Conduct. Verbatim. The gist of it was that as long as a relationship was outside the direct chain of command, the Company had no authority to intervene in said relationship. Rufus wasn't even in the military, and Sephiroth was refusing the order. He stared levelly at the President while he did so, who paled and backed down.

Rufus had noticed a long time ago that his father was more than a little afraid of his own General. The President relied on Hojo to keep a leash on his creation, but that was a mistake, one that had cost him dearly. Things had shifted for good that day, although it would take a while for his father to recognise the true implications of it. It wasn't simply that Hojo's plans for breeding his super-soldier were now derailed for all time – the scientist had been muttering about degenerate military practices corrupting his best specimen – but that he'd lost all real control of the greatest military force in his own company. Sephiroth had refused a direct order, and when his eyes slid sideways, landing on Hojo, it was quite clear he intended to refuse more. SOLDIER's loyalty was to Sephiroth, and Sephiroth's loyalty did not lie with a man who routinely handed both his General and his men over to his pet mad scientist.

Really, Rufus thought, stroking a hand over surprisingly soft skin, his father should have put more effort into keeping his general happy.

Green eyes flicked open, pupils narrowing sharply into focus. "You're gloating again," Sephiroth murmured.

"Why wouldn't I?" Rufus pointed out. "I have a gorgeous lover. My father is furious, the rest of the world is jealous, and one day -" he waved a hand vaguely in the air, indicating not just the apartment, but the building it occupied - "this will all be mine. Far sooner than that fat idiot upstairs even realises."

He didn't bother to hide his ambitions. Tseng had advised him, back at the start of all this, that the best way to earn Sephiroth's respect was by being direct. It had proved useful advice, although he didn't think the Turk had anticipated quite what Rufus would do with it.

"I'm touched by the depth of family feeling you have towards your father," Sephiroth said with a smirk.

Rufus shrugged. "It's true. He might have built this company, but he's spent the past twenty years blowing his money on wine, women, and Hojo's crackpot theories. He's turned himself into nothing but a fat, stupid target and sooner or later, he's going to reap the consequences." With any luck, Rufus would get to fire the lucky shot himself.

"And when he does," Sephiroth asserted, "Hojo will go, too."

Rufus nodded. It wasn't a huge concession to make. ShinRa's science department had once been the centre of ground-breaking research, but now the massive budget was entirely sucked up by Hojo's latest mad ideas and his father's search for some mythical Promised Land. He'd be more than happy to cut the dead weight. He'd even let Sephiroth do the trimming personally. Rufus wondered if he could convince his lover to let him watch. It would be a pleasure to see him in action.

He leaned in and covered Sephiroth's lips with his own, humming satisfaction when the silver-haired man returned the kiss with equal enthusiasm. A hand on his shoulder and a discreet push had him rolling onto his back, Rufus settling astride his waist and rocking forward in a manner which made his own arousal blatantly obvious.

Really, Rufus thought, walking into Sephiroth's office and declaring he intended to take over his father's company had been one of the smartest things he'd ever done. Pointing out just how Sephiroth would benefit from this had certainly served its purpose. It would likely bring his own plans forward several years, and had removed the most dangerous obstacle to his succession: SOLDIER and their possible response. All in all, he was quite satisfied with the results.

It wasn't half as satisfying, however, as the pleasure he got from propositioning the General afterwards.


End file.
